On June 4, another pod of transient orcas spent about an hour in the harbour, marking the first appearance of the mammals in the waterway in decades.

Cowan says Sunday’s visit was likely related to the recent low tides.

“Animals and organisms that aren’t normally affected by tide were swept out with exceptionally low tides of recent days and were coming back in with (the rising) tide,” Cowan said.

She said smaller marine mammals that are the whale’s usual prey would likely have been following the large amount of nutrients carried along by the tide, which is why the killer whales were not far behind.